Field
The present invention generally relates to endoscopes, and to a housing of the type referred to in claim 1.
Prior Art
Video camera housings for a video endoscope in a single-piece embodiment are known from DE 10 2006 015 176 B3 and DE 199 55 229 C1. In this case, the housing consists substantially of a metal tube, in which the components to be introduced must be inserted and aligned from the end surfaces. This leads to complicated and expensive manufacturing steps.
DE 10 2004 023 866 B3 shows a generic housing which consists of two housing parts. These are designed as tube pieces pushed concentrically one above the other. The components may be distributed over the two tube pieces so that the installation position is slightly improved. Here again, however, access is also only possible by the end surfaces. The construction with the two tubes one inside the other is used by means of rotatable mounting of the two tubes against each other to create a rotation possibility for the video camera. The question of the hermetic sealing of the housing required remains open.
The non-generic state of the art according to DE 10 2008 056 830 A1 shows a housing having a longitudinally slotted and elastically resilient tube to hold the relay lenses of an endoscope optics system, which is surrounded by heat shrinkable tubing. In the case of heat shrinkable tubing that has not yet been mounted, it can be introduced and aligned very easily through the longitudinal slot from the side along its entire length.